Top 10 London Buildings

Top 10 London Buildings

June is dominated by the London Festival of Architecture. And to help sift through the range of contemporary classics in the capital, here is an accessible Top 10 guide to London’s finest buildings:

Lloyds of London building :photograph : Shutterstock

With the London Festival of Architecture in full swing, it really hits home just how many wonderfully designed buildings London has. Aside from your obvious tourist traps, there are stunning buildings and monuments on virtually every street corner, covering just about every decade for the past few hundred years. It’s no wonder the festival needs to run for an entire month; indeed, it could run for a year and still not be long enough.

To celebrate the festival, independent retailers Utility have produced a guide to what they believe to be the ten best architectural masterpieces in London. There’s a little bit of everything on there, from the super-modern, skyline dominating Shard to the truly iconic Battersea Power Station. There are also a couple of unsung pieces in there, including the LSE, the London Aquatics Centre and Senate House. Of course, this is no means exhaustive, but it does give a perfect representation of the architectural variety London has to offer.

National Theatre London building:photo : Shutterstock

Each of the entries gives some historical background to the buildings, as well as who the brains were behind the design, and, where possible, how much the building cost – the differences in some of the older buildings compared to today’s is really quite eye-opening.

There is still plenty going on for the London Festival of Architecture throughout the rest of June, including exhibitions, installations, talks & debates, and even walking tours of the city. You can find out exactly what’s on, where and when over on the official website.